Agunah International

 
I Will Betroth You with Justice under the Law
 
-  וארשתיך לי בצדק ובמשפט

 

Home Sample Rulings Articles & Halachic Material  Info/Ads Speakers Bureau How You Can Help Agunot Contact

 

Ad No. 1

Ad No.2
 


AN URGENT MESSAGE TO MEMBERS OF THE ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITY
 

Hundreds of desperate women whose husbands absolutely refuse to release them from dead marriages come to Rabbi Emanuel Rackman's Beit Din (rabbinical court) for help. They tell us that no other Orthodox rabbi provides any relief.

The following case histories describe the plight of women whose marriages were annulled by Rabbi Rackman's rabbinical court based upon the writings of outstanding halachists including Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, z"l. (The true identities of the women are disguised in order to protect their privacy).

 

CASE #101

CR's husband abandoned her and their three small children ten years ago. He refuses to give her a get (Jewish divorce) or to reveal his whereabouts. CR, an Orthodox woman from the Midwest had appealed to her rabbi for help. She told him that her husband is a drug abuser and had she known about his drug abuse before they had married, she never would have married him. His drug abuse existed at the time of their marriage but none of his friends or relatives would come forward to testify about his condition. Her rabbi, whose beit din is rec­ognized by the Orthodox establishment, told her, "You have to stay like this for the rest of your life and pray to G-d that either he dies soon or find someone else [to marry].

 

CASE #102
AH's husband never supported her or their three children. He was on drugs and beat her. She came home from work and caught him in bed with another woman. He fled to Israel and refused to give her a get (Jewish divorce). Before she came to Rabbi Rackman no Beit Din was willing to free her despite the horror of her existence.

CASE #103
Six months after MZ married and had become pregnant with their child, her husband told her he's in love with another woman, but refused to give her a get.  After months of psychologically abusing her, MZ's husband returned to his Israeli mistress, married  her in Cyprus and had two children with her. He and his new family have been living unfettered in Israel for the past twenty years. In stark contrast, MZ had to raise her child herself and was doomed to a life of loneliness and despair.
 

It is time that rabbis stopped endangering Orthodox Jewish women and children and degrading Jewish marriage by maintaining that halachah decrees that women must remain married to such unbalanced and destructive men.

 Halachah is just and compassionate. For centuries, beginning with the Talmud and continuing with the Geonim, Maimonides, the Or Zarua, the Rashba, Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, rabbis have found halachic means including annulment to free women from abusive marriages.

There is a failure of leadership by the Orthodox rabbinate with regard to this issue. The lay people of the community must take a stand in support of Rabbi Rackman and his colleagues and thus infuse their local rabbis with the courage to do the same.

This message is sponsored by
AGUNAH INTERNATIONAL INC.
THE RACKMAN/AGUNAH INTERNATIONAL BElT DIN
498 East 18th Street. Brooklyn, NY 11226
Hotline: 212-249-4523

The mission of Agunah International lnc. is to help free women trapped in dead marriages by husbands who refuse to grant them a Jewish divorce (get);  to alert the Jewish community as to the severity and magnitude of the agunah problem; to educate the Jewish community about  halachic precedents and remedies for freeing agunot; to counsel women whose unscrupulous husbands use the get as a weapon to extort financial gain or custodial rights, or to exact revenge during the divorce process; to provide funds for agunot in need.

Agunah International Inc. is a tax exempt, non-profit 501-(c) (3) organization, Your tax-deductible contributions are needed. They enable us to pursue our goals of helping women rebuild their lives and promoting support for a halachic solution to the agunah problem.

 


Ad No. 3
 

THE JEWISH WEEK. NOVEMBER 1, 2002

 

THE BElT DIN L'INYENEI AGUNOT

Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, presiding
Rabbi Eugene Cohen              Rabbi Asher Murciano                 Rabbi Haim Toledano

Agunot wishing to submit their case for adjudication should call AGUNAH INT'L Inc. tel, 212-249-4523
 Susan Aranoff           Estelle Freilich       Elona Lazaroff           Honey Rackman
The services of the beit din are free of charge.

The following case histories, edited to preserve confidentiality, describe the plight of women whose marriages were annulled by Rabbi Rackman's beit din. The Rackman beit din's approach to freeing women like those described below is firmly rooted in Halachic precedents set by the Geonim, Maimonides, the Or Zarua, the Rashba, Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Rabbi Moshe Rozen, Rabbi Abraham Aharon Yudlevitch and many other Halachic decisors.

CASE #101 DRUG ABUSER ABANDONS WIFE AND CHILDREN                            
CR's husband abandoned her and their three small children ten years ago. He refuses to give her a get (Jewish divorce) or to reveal his whereabouts. CR, an Orthodox woman from the Midwest had appealed to her rabbi for help. She told him that her husband is a drug abuser and had she known about his drug abuse before they had married, she never would have mar­ried him. His drug abuse existed at the time of their marriage but none of his friends or relatives would come forward to testify about his condition. Her rabbi, whose beit din is recognized by the Orthodox establishment told her, "You have to stay like this for the rest of your life and pray to G-d that either he dies soon or find someone else [to marry]”
 

CASE #103 ABUSIVE HUSBAND ABANDONS WIFE, COMMITS BIGAMY
Six months after MZ married RZ and had become pregnant with their child, RZ told her he's in love with another woman, but refused to give her a get. After months of psychologically abusing her, RZ returned to his Israeli mistress, married her in Cyprus and had two children with her. He and his new family have been living unfettered in Israel for the past twenty years. In stark contrast, MZ had to raise her child herself and was doomed to a life of loneliness and despair.

See our website www.agunahinternational.com
for Halachic sources and remedies available to free these women.

Orthodox Jewish women marry with the expectation and on the condition that their husbands will treat them with decency and respect. When after marriage men are guilty of physical and psychological abuse, sexual molestation, adultery, abandonment or criminality, women can rightly claim that they did not knowingly consent to a marriage that would subject them to such brutality with no escape. There is substantial research documenting the fact that abusive husbands have personality defects traceable to events in earlier formative years, for example witnessing abuse in their childhood homes. Thus the abusive husband's defects pre-existed the marriage though the defects were concealed at that time. The marriage is, therefore, a case of kiddushei ta'ut, a marriage that is void ab initio because had the wife known of her husband's defects she never would have consented to marry him. Further, it is self-evident (an umdenah d'muchach) that Orthodox Jewish women would not knowingly agree to entrapment in marriages to men guilty of the deviant behavior described above. Indeed, the community as a whole regards this behavior as being in total discord with any reasonable concept of marriage. Orthodox Jewish women and children are endangered and Jewish marriage is degraded when batei din fail to release women from such insufferable marriages.

  This message is sponsored by
AGUNAH INTERNATIONAL INC.
 498 East 18th Street. Brooklyn, NY 11226
Hotline: 212-249-4523

Agunah International Inc. is a tax exempt, non-profit 501-(c) (3) organization
 Your tax-deductible contributions are needed
They enable us to pursue our goals of helping women rebuild their lives
and promoting support for Halachic solutions to the agunah problem.
 

 


Ad No. 4
 


AGUNAH INTERNATI0NAL Inc.

ATTENTION JEWISH BRIDES:
PRE-NUPTIAL ADVIS0RY

Not all prenuptial agreements are the same. Call us to make sure you are signing a prenuptial agreement that offers you the maximum protection.

Advisory #1:  Make sure :the prenuptial agreement you sign does .not link the granting of the get (Jewish divorce) to the finalization of the civil divorce proceedings.

Advisory #2: Make sure the prenuptial agreement you sign stipulates that the giving of the get is independent of all other considerations, including custody, visitation, and financial matters.

For further information call 212-249-4523
Or visit our website: www.agunahinternational.com
 

AGUNAH INTERNATIONAL, Inc. ­
A LIFE IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE"
 

 


Agunah International Inc.
498 East 18th Street, Brooklyn, New York 11226
Hotline: 917-671-7274